I’m attending the Texas Library Association Conference (#txla16) this week as a candidate for ALA President.  I’ve already enjoyed meeting many Texas librarians and look forward to talking with more over the coming days. I can’t say enough in appreciation of the hospitality and welcome that Patricia Smith, Executive Director, and her TLA team extends to the candidates. What a warm and supportive welcome!

I also had the pleasure of being invited to lead a session today as well: Faculty Are Life-Long Learners; So, Why Not Teach Them Information Literacy?  I was thrilled that the session drew a crowd and not just academic librarians but many school librarians as well. It was great to have both of these communities together talking information literacy and outreach to instructors!

My handout is loaded in the conference app but the discussion brought forward so many additional ideas that I thought I’d combine my handout with everyone else’s ideas and summarize the session here. And, I’m also making good on the promise I made in the session that I would do so!

I started my sharing my philosophy that effective faculty development for information literacy starts with understanding the challenges that faculty are facing in their work. By understanding their challenges, we can position information literacy (and other library services) as solutions to problems rather than putting forth information literacy as another problem for the faculty to solve. Whether it is students who are not using credible sources in their papers, article manuscripts that do not fit with known publication outlets in their fields, a need for images to use in presentations that are not restricted by license or copyright, etc., information literacy instruction can come to the rescue.

The session then explored different aspects of faculty development programming: purpose, faculty role, program modes, and campus partners. Here is a summary of the ideas that emerged:

What is the purpose of the faculty development program that you are planning?

• Individual Change
• Organizational Change
• Train-the-Trainers/Multiply Library Influence
• Support QEP or Other Organizational Transformation Effort
• Curricular Change – Support for Change Approved and/or Advocate for Change
• Develop Faculty as Library Advocates

What is the role of the faculty that you are targeting for the faculty development program that you are planning?

• Scholar/Researcher
• Teacher
• Service
• Mentor/Advisor
• Clinician
• Recruiter
• Activist
• Library Advocate

What are possible program modes for the faculty development program that you are planning?

• Workshops and Seminars
• Discussion Groups
• Assignment Design
• Course Consultations
• Selected Dissemination of Information
• Institutes
• Webinars
• Self-Paced Learning
• Games

Which campus partners could you collaborate with in development and marketing the faculty development program that you are planning?

• Centers for Teaching/Learning
• Academic Technologies
• Distance Learning
• QEP Office
• Welcome Center
• Facilities Management
• Student life
• Dual Enrollment Program Staff
• Office of Research Services
• Bookstore
• Other Faculty Who are Library Advocates
• Tutoring Center

At the end of the discussion, I asked each person to identify their next steps. What would they do …

• In the next week …
• In the next month …
• In the next year …

What will you do?